The Witch of November Come Stealing
by FunkyWashingMachine
Summary: An alternate timeline where Keith and Pidge meet at the Garrison and team up to uncover the truth about the Kerberos mission. They really suck at friendship, but they're trying. [TW self-harm, suicidal ideation]
1. Chapter 1

"Why'd you turn the radio off? They'll hear us talking."

"I just feel like they're about to play something terrible."

Pidge flicked the radio back on.

"Do you want us to get caught?"

"I'm not the one who's breaking the rules right now."

"Fine. You want ME to get caught so that you're stuck on your own? You wouldn't be ANYWHERE without me."

"I just have a bad feeling about it."

"Yeah, well, this might surprise you, Keith, but not everyone cares how you feel."

"That doesn't surprise me at all."

No one apologized. They hadn't gotten any apologies in a while, they had none to give anymore.

Pidge huffed and rubbed her temples.

"I don't know where else to check. There must be some hidden files somewhere, something that only a few of them know about."

"You mean besides just classifying everything?"

"Right. I mean information they don't even claim to HAVE. Maybe only one or two people know about it."

"How would they keep secrets like that?"

Pidge smiled grimly.

"They have their ways."

"What do you think they'd be hiding?"

"Well, think about it. What haven't we found?"

"A lot of things."

"A distress call."

They were quiet.

"So, what are you saying?"

"Either they're hiding it, or there isn't one."

"And if you find it?"

"If I find it, it'll be because you helped me."

Keith looked down.

"You want me to listen to it."

"Yes, that's going to happen."

"What if I don't want to hear it?"

"Are you going to help me at all, or are you just going to give up when things get scary? You should have known what you were getting into when you talked to me."

He wasn't a friend. He was a resource. That was how he felt about her, too.

It was like that since the day they first met.

She looked so much like that boy, he had to bite his cheek when he saw her.

That boy that Shiro spent so much time with. The one who was presumed dead in space.

He'd spent a lot of energy hating that boy. It was easy to hate Pidge just the same.

It was that, and it was that FEELING. The things that made him corner her and say, a bit more aggressively than intended, "Who ARE you?"

And when she lied to him, he said, "You know Shiro."

Things were patchy since then but it had gotten them talking.

They were most certainly not friends.

He was only in her room right now as a conspirer. In the event of a room check they'd pretend they were fucking.

The music from the radio was nothing to be enjoyed either.

When it had nothing to cover up, it just filled up the silence. Like it was doing now, singing one of those songs that had a heartbeat.

" _The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee_

 _The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead when the skies of November turn gloomy._ "

They stopped what they were doing.

They'd never listened to the music before.

" _With a load of iron ore 26 thousand tons more than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty_

 _That good ship and crew was a bone to be chewed when the gales of November came early."_

They were quick to dislike the song.

But it had a heartbeat. It was more alive than anything in the room.

" _The wind in the wires made a tattletale sound when the wave broke over the railing_

 _And every man knew, as the captain did too, t'was the witch of November come stealing._ "

Kerberos had been lost in January. But if there was a witch in space, she wouldn't have cared what they called it on Earth.

Finding nothing for so long, it was starting to feel like there really was a witch up there.

" _The captain wired in he had water coming in and the good ship and crew was in peril_

 _And later that night when his lights went out of sight came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald._ "

Neither of them wanted to listen to a distress call.

" _They might have split up or they might have capsized, they may have broke deep and took water_

 _And all that remains is the faces and the names of the wives and the sons and the daughters."_

They held onto what was precious to them. A knife, a pair of glasses. They each had their own world of suffering that they didn't share.

" _In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed in the Maritime Sailors' Cathedral_

 _The church bell chimed till it rang 29 times for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald._ "

The Kerberos memorial service had been secular. Keith didn't go.

He'd sent back the personal invitation with a few words in red marker.

The next day he'd been "requested" to see a counselor, who told him it wasn't polite to tell the president to go fuck himself, but considering the circumstances they'd hold back on disciplinary action if he continued with counseling.

He did not continue with counseling.

For Pidge, it was never an option.

She curled up like she wanted to cry.

" _The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee_

 _Superior, they said, never gives up her dead when the gales of November come early._ "

The heartbeat stopped. Pidge spoke first.

"It's true that Superior never gives up her dead. It's too cold for the normal decomposition that causes–"

"Pidge, shut the fuck up."

"Fine. I'm sorry."

Keith sighed.

"So am I."

It was a bad time for both of them to have met. They knew it inside and tolerated one another.

They weren't friends. They were resources. But resources must be taken care of.

"My dad sent me a message the night before," Pidge said at last. "They landed without incident. They were going to sneak me back a pebble."

"Shiro asked me if I wanted one before he left. I know it was a joke… I don't want a pebble."

"I used to."

It was so much easier to want a pebble.

"Did your dad ever talk about Shiro?"

"All the time. He loved him."

Everyone had loved Shiro.

"What did Shiro say about my brother?"

"He loved him, too."

There was more but it was hard to say.

"It must be nice to have Shiro love you."

Keith hid his face.

"It was the only thing I cared about."

If this was the end, it was all that they had for each other. Pidge balled up a sheet.

"They're still out there. They have to be."

Keith bit himself on the knuckle.

"He'd be so fucking disappointed if he saw me now."

"Hey," Pidge looked at him. "You're not disappointing as a person. You're only disappointing as an accomplice."

Keith scoffed and dabbed his nose.

"Good to know."

"Look," Pidge conceded, "If you find the distress call… tell me where you are and I'll listen to it with you. Right then."

It wasn't the most streamlined plan but it was a plan.

For a moment they both desperately wished they were friends.


	2. Chapter 2

The knock came after lights out. Pidge stuffed away her things before answering.

It wasn't a watchman. It was one of the few students that she knew by name. She let him in.

"Keith? What's going on? Did you find something?"

His fists were balled. He stared at them.

"I need someone to tell me not to hurt myself."

"Don't hurt yourself," she said.

"Thanks."

There were counselors at the Garrison. They both knew why he didn't go.

"Where's the knife?"

"I have it."

"Give it to me."

"You can't touch it."

"Well, I'm not letting you walk out of here with it."

Keith hesitated.

"Do you have… like a plastic bag or something?"

"Garbage bag work?"

"Probably."

He wrapped the knife in the bag she got him.

"Be super careful with it and don't break the bag."

"It'll be fine, I'm not about to get it dirty or anything."

"It's already dirty, don't touch it."

"I heard you already. It's going in my desk drawer. You can have it tomorrow if you're feeling better then."

"Thanks."

"Have you eaten today?"

"A bit."

She handed him a bag of chips.

"Eat. Now."

He pulled one out without much enthusiasm. Pidge watched him.

"Do you need anything else?" she asked.

He needed something that she couldn't give him. They both knew that, too.

Keith fiddled with the chip before attempting to eat it.

"How's the research going?" he finally said.

Pidge brought her computer back out.

"I'm thinking about changing angles."

"To what?"

"To getting our OWN information from Kerberos."

They'd swept every file they could find. No ship, no distress call.

No bodies.

Keith rubbed the salt between his fingers.

"How are we going to do that?"

"I'm still working on that," Pidge said. "But I'll need your help getting some of the parts."

In this case, "getting" meant "stealing."

"What are they for?"

"For a scanner that will siphon us in to Kerberos in as close to real time as we can get."

"What exactly are you expecting to find?"

Pidge didn't look up.

"Eat the goddamn chips, Keith."

Keith ate the goddamn chips.

She handed him an energy drink.

"Have you taken your meds today?"

"They're for something else."

"Take them anyway."

"They're in my room."

"Then tomorrow you're going to take them in front of me."

Keith sighed.

"Fine."

He looked from the drink in his hand to the open ones on the desk and the empty ones on the floor.

"Do you EVER go to sleep?" he asked.

"Do YOU?"

Keith shrugged.

"Fine then, don't drink it," she said. "I don't have anything else."

"How do you keep up with everything if you don't sleep?"

"I'm a genius and my body is nothing but a machine."

"You should sleep more."

"And you should stop skipping meals."

"I just never feel like eating."

"You sound pretty fucking depressed."

"I FEEL pretty fucking depressed."

Pidge closed her laptop.

"I'm really not the best person to help you."

"I know, but there's no one else."

"Yeah, I know," Pidge said. She very nearly looked at him. "I don't have any friends either."

Back when they'd met, she'd said to him, "I'm not going to tell you everything. Only what you need to know." It was too risky to tell anyone everything. It was easier not to have friends.

"You deserve better," Keith said.

"I'm a pain in the ass and you know it."

"So am I, but Shiro thought…"

He stopped.

"Well, he's right," Pidge said. "You deserve better, too."

"Sometimes I just want to die."

"Well I don't want you to die, and neither would Shiro."

"Then you're the only person left."

"Hey," Pidge said shakily. "Stop being such a dillhole."

She reached over and hugged him. For a moment he coiled back.

It was the first hug either of them had had in quite some time.

It was awkward. But it lasted longer than either of them would have expected.

"Shiro would be proud of you for not giving up," Pidge said when it was over. "You wouldn't have come here if you were giving up."

"I guess," Keith said.

Pidge went back to her desk.

"If you don't feel like sneaking back to your room, you can crash here tonight."

"You're sure about that?"

"I'm probably not going to bed anyway."

"Well. Thanks."

"Just remember, we're officially boyfriends if anyone sees you leaving my room."

Keith snorted and lay down.

"Okay, good night, then."

"Night."

In another couple hours, Pidge would be asleep along with him, head surrounded by the empty cans on her desk.


	3. Chapter 3

"Someone's coming! Put it away!"

Pidge hid the scanner in her backpack. Keith dashed over to sit beside her, throwing an arm around her shoulders.

It was nothing but a romantic night of stargazing.

They tightened their grip as the intruding party swaggered up to them.

It was a student, no one with authority but he could still rat them out.

"Evening, gentleman," he said. "Sorry to interrupt your date."

He didn't look sorry at all.

"Uhhh…"

Keith and Pidge exchanged a glance. Yes, this was the basic emergency plan, but they hadn't exactly drilled it.

"Mind if I join you lovebirds for a while?" the boy said, sitting beside them. "Of COURSE it's a lovely night to be out stargazing with someone nice, that's been on my romantic to-do list for a LONG time now."

Pidge did a double-take.

"Lance?"

"Wait… PIDGE?" said the boy. "YOU'RE the one dating this guy?"

Pidge tugged Keith further in.

"Yes."

"No fucking way! Is THIS why you won't hang out with us? Because we're not cool like Mr. Ace Pilot over here?"

"Yes."

Lance rounded on Keith.

"Why are you even dating Pidge? He's such a shitball!"

"Believe me, I know," Keith said.

"Gee, thanks," grumbled Pidge.

Lance made a face.

"Ugh, if I have to see you guys kiss I'm gonna throw up."

"Yeah, so would I."

Someone else spoke from across the roof.

"Lance, are we done? Can we go yet?"

"NO, HUNK, WE CAN'T!" Lance called, way too loudly for a nighttime stealth mission. "It's PIDGE!"

The other person came up to them.

"Seriously? Wow." He laughed and put a hand on Pidge's shoulder. "Congratulations, Pidge, you have no idea how jea-"

Lance elbowed him in the knee.

"Pidge, you know these guys?" Keith asked.

Pidge sighed.

"They're from my flight unit."

"You must've heard of us," Lance grinned. "Hasn't he told you all about his awesome flight buddies?"

"No, actually."

"Right," Lance deflated. "Man, Pidge, do you really have to be such a heartless prick all the time?"

"Hey!" Keith snapped. "You lay off!"

"Lance… why are you even up here?" Pidge asked.

Lance jumped up and threw himself into Hunk's arms. Hunk barely caught him.

"Because I'M on a super hot date tonight too!"

"What, with Hunk? Since when are you guys dating?"

"SINCE WE FELT LIKE IT! God, Pidge, I don't question the things that YOU do!"

"Yes you do. All the time."

"Well you never give me an answer so I'm not gonna give you one either!"

"Just yesterday you were whining about being single."

"I was NOT whining!"

Keith snorted.

"Well, hey, Keith," Hunk laughed, setting Lance down, "I'm glad you somehow got past Pidge's killjoy side. We've been trying."

"…How do you know my name?"

"He just took a lucky guess, okay!" Lance glared at Hunk.

"You guys followed us up here, didn't you," Pidge said.

"No we did NOT!" Lance pouted. "We're on a DATE! Give me a kiss, Hunk!"

"Uhhh, okay," Hunk leaned over and kissed Lance on the cheek.

"I think I really am going to puke," Pidge grimaced.

"It's called team bonding, Pidge, maybe you should try it sometime."

Keith shot him a cold look.

"You're so fucking mean, I'm sorry Pidge has to work with you."

"Hey, I'm just trying to be friends here, you guys are the ones making it hard."

"Well we were having a VERY good night before you showed up!" Pidge scowled.

They hadn't been, really, but they didn't like being caught. They could both feel the other shaking.

"Lance, we should probably go," Hunk said.

"Yeah, well–"

An alarm came on, calling a Zulu Niner. Lockdown and headcount. They could hear the buzz of the sealing doors.

"Well, fuck," Lance said. "You know, since we're gonna be stuck outside for a while, it would be a good time for us to start being friends."

Pidge and Keith pretended not to hear.

And then they saw it.

It fell like the stars they'd never admit to wishing on for the past year. It glowed like a sliver of God.

They didn't mean to, but they held onto each other.

"It's a ship…"

It came from the frozen cockles of space and it touched the earth. It was a ship, it was a star, and they followed it. Made of light, it was theirs.

They followed it and they were followed, too.


End file.
